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What we missed in Hummers this year…

In her Capitol office on Monday, Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, displays props and costumes that would have been part of the Colorado House’s traditional “Hummers” show this year if the relationship between majority Republicans and minority Democrats hadn’t turned sour in the waning days of the session.

Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, displays props and costumes that would have been part of the House’s traditional “Hummers” show this year.

Photo by Ernest Luning/The Colorado Statesman

The show, held most years during a lull in floor activity as the House awaits Senate action as the General Assembly draws to a close, includes sometimes elaborate skits and song by the minority party lampooning the foibles of the majority. Last year’s show tossed numerous barbs at Republicans over an impasse over once-a-decade congressional redistricting, but this year the show didn’t survive tensions over a more heated impasse that doomed a Democratic-sponsored civil unions bill early last week.

Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst displays boxing gloves that were meant to be used in a skit about Reps. Marsha Looper and Amy Stephens at this year’s Hummers, the traditional across-the-aisle send-up of the House majority party by the minority party, in her Capitol office on May 14. Democrats voted unanimously to call off the musical review this year after dozens of bills died on the House calendar last week and declined to reschedule the show during this week’s special session.

Photo by Ernest Luning/The Colorado Statesman

This year’s show was to have featured an elaborate Wizard of Oz-themed skit, plenty of references to the normally drawn-out speaking style of Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, and an “Annie Get Your Gun” remake depicting primary rivals Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R-Monument, and Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan. Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, already renowned as a Capitol cut-up, wrote much of this year’s show.

Even though there might have been time to stage the show during the special session, Democrats said such frivolity didn’t belong in the chamber when lawmakers were trying to hurry through their agenda rather than cost taxpayers any additional money.

Hullinghorst said she was packing away the props — including boxing gloves that were part of the Looper-Stephens skit — but she added that she hoped the boxes stay in storage for some time, since Democrats don’t intend to be in the minority next year.